University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies

Narenda Modi, Prime Minister of India, rules in the name of hindutva or Hindu Nationalism. His party’s shared vision for India has resulted in massive violence between Muslims and Hindus, as it did during his rule as Chief Minister in Gujarat. Most recently, Modi’s values of Hindu strength have led to the occupation of Kashmir, a massively popular endeavor both in India an within its diaspora.

Joining ReligioPolitics to explain the origins of hindutva, the rise of Modi’s BJP party, and its implications for Indian foreign relations, is Dr. Anand Yang, Professor of History and International Studies at the University of Washington.

Our introductory episode to ReligioPolitics, our six-part podcast series, focuses on the successful campaign in early 2019 in Ukraine to create a Ukrainian Orthodox Church by then-President Poroshenko who later lost in a landslide to Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian that had impersonated him on a popular show. Joining the program to explain its implications for geopolitics in Eastern Europe is Dr. Gene Lemcio, Affiliated Professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the UW.

Jackson School of International Studies Assistant Professor Vanessa Freije gives an interview with KOMO Radio from Mexico City about the results of the country's July 1, 2018 elections. Freije served as an international election observer.

Timothy Snyder, the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University, speaks at UW Kane Hall about ways to resist and create change in times of political trouble in On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. April 26, 2018.

Washington Lieutenant Governor Habib gives a talk to UW students, faculty and the wider community about global opportunities for Washington, from trade to foreign relations, and the role of the Lieutenant Governor's Office in creating a more prosperous Washington for all.

About the speaker

Before being elected as Washington state’s 16th Lieutenant Governor in 2016, Cyrus Habib represented east King County in the Washington state Senate and earlier as a member of the state House of Representatives. A graduate of Yale Law School, Habib has practiced law at Perkins Coie, the region’s largest law firm, where he helped startup technology companies raise venture capital funds and license their software. As Lieutenant Governor, he presides over the State Senate, serves as acting-Governor when the Governor is out of the state, and works on issues related to Economic Development, Trade, and Higher Education.

Daniel Bessner the Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Assistant Professor in American Foreign Policy in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies provides a fascinating account of Hans Speier, an oft forgotten yet highly influential figure within the mid-century national security state. Listen to a podcast interview of his latest book Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual (Cornell University Press, April 2018).

Alumna Elise Carlson-Rainer discusses the role of bureaucrats in foreign policy and LGBTI rights under an a republican administration.

Assistant Professor Sasha Senderovich interviewed by NPR to share how he was personally affected by the order to close the Russian consulate in Seattle.

In a talk in Jackson School as part of the 2018 U.S. in the World Speaker Series, Harvard Kennedy School Professor Arne Westad explored an alternate, ideological interpretation of the Cold War. According to him, the Cold War may have begun on the perimeters of Europe, but it had its deepest reverberations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, where nearly every community had to choose sides. And these choices continue to define economies and regimes across the world.

Golub Professor of International Studies in the Jackson School and Chair of the History Department in the University of Washington, Anand Yang speaking on “The Origins and Influence of Gandhi’s Ideas of Nonviolence” as part of the 2018 History Lecture Series on “Speaking Truth to Power: Protest & Dissent,” at UW’s Kane Hall on January 10, 2018.